Indium tin oxide (ITO) on a flexible substrate will be aged or even curved to form micro-cracks after repeated clicking. For multi-point touch control technology in the future, the requirements of a click lifetime and degree of bending resistance will be continuously increased. As such, a flexible transparent conductive film should be developed to replace brittle ITO film. A conductive polymer, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)/poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) is one candidate to replace ITO material. The leader in this conductive polymer is Heraeus company, which develops a conductive polymer with a sheet resistance of 100Ω/□ and a transmittance of 90%. However, the chemical resistance of the conductive polymer needs to be greatly improved. The chemical resistance of the PEDOT:PSS film can be improved by adding a binder such as polyurethane or melamine. However, few amount of the binder cannot efficiently increase the chemical resistance of the conductive film. On the other hand, a large amount of the binder will decrease the conductivity of the conductive film.
Accordingly, a novel additive that may increase the chemical resistance but not decrease the conductivity of the conductive film is called-for.